USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > A history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and its people; Volume II > Part 48
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In his young manhood Mr. Alexander was for a time a student in the famous West Chester Normal School, and became so excellent a scholar that he served acceptably for two terms as a teacher in the Kennet township schools. He subsequently completed a course in Prickett's Business College, Philadelphia, after which he secured employment with the John M. Rowe Son & Company in the capacity of shipping clerk, later relinquishing the position to enter the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as clerk in the trans-
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portation department at Broad street, Philadelphia, and where he remained for six years. Meantime he gave his evenings to the study of law, under his former school teacher. Mr. Fronefield, and, as he progressed, he gave up his railroad position and became assistant to the recorder of deeds of Delaware county. under Recorder Thomas D. Young. The latter work was more in line with his ambition, also affording him greater opportunity for his law studies, and on March 2d, 1897, he was admitted to the bar of Delaware county, and at once entered upon practice in Media, his present residence, and where his abilities have brought to him a large and influential clientele. He was for some years solicitor for the Directors of the Poor of Delaware county. He is a Republican in politics.
Mr. Alexander married, May 7, 1892, Mae F., daughter of John D. and Mary E. Erisman, her father a florist, of Kennett Square. Children : Beatrice Zadie, born November 22, 1893, and Jay Cooke, born May 13. 1905.
The Taylor family of Pennsylvania which boasts of Bayard TAYLOR Taylor, the noted American author, among its members, traces its descent from Thomas Taylor, of Wales, and who, according to the record left by Ruth Woolens, written when she was eighty-four years of age, had five sons: Stephen. Job. Joel, William and John.
(II) John, son of Thomas Taylor, married. in 1769. Dinah Bailey : chil- dren : Job, Stephen, William (of further mention), Rachel, married
Pierce : Elizabeth. married Mendenhall ; John Levi, Hannah, Mary, Joel, Abner : Lydia, married Pierce : Reuben : Sarah, married Richard Taylor.
(III) William, son of John and Dinah ( Bailey) Taylor, died at Hockes- sin. September 4. 1829. He and his wife were members of the Society of Friends, of which seet he was a preacher. He married, 1798, Anne Mercer, died at Fairville (now Mendenhall), Pennsylvania, October, 1857. Children : I. Samuel, born June 3. 1799: married Mary Cloud. 2. Job. born December 27. 1800; married Susan Yeatman. 3. Elisha, born September 27, 1802. 4. William, born May 4, 1804: married (first) Elizabeth Hood, (second) De- borah Bye. 5. Elizabeth, born August 24, 1805 : married Caleb Sharpless. 6. Amos, born April 1, 1807. 7. Sarah, born October 13, 1808: married Wil- liam Woods. 8. Isaac, born April 20, 1810: married Letitia Davis. 9. Han- nah, born March 21, 1812; married Joseph R. Mendenhall. 10. Lydia, born October 13, 1814: married Dutton Ottley. 11. Ann, born December 20, 1817; married (first) Benjamin Sharpless. ( second) Hugh Passmore. 12. David Wilson (of further mention). \3. Jesse, born October 3. 1820; married, Oc- tober 20, 1844, Hannah Mendenhall. 14. Ruth, born June 16, 1822: married Theodore Woolens.
(IV) David Wilson, son of William and Anne ( Mercer) Taylor, was born at Flockessin, Delaware, February 10, 1819. died there October 22, 1895. He spent his early years at the family home, leaving when he was nineteen years of age and traveling extensively through the west. Returning east, he pur- chased farms in Pennsylvania, Delaware. Virginia and New Jersey, succes- sively, following the farmer's occupation until his death. In politics he was a Republican, but never held any public office. He and his wife were members of the Society of Friends. He married, December 30, 1851. Elizabeth Jane. born January 17, 1824, died at Willowdale, Chester county, Pennsylvania, daughter of John, a farmer of Chadds Ford, and Margaret ( Hannum) Pyle. Children of David Wilson and Elizabeth Jane ( Pyle) Taylor: I. Newton Pyle, born January 19, 1853. 2. Pusey Phillips (of further mention). 3.
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William, born December 22, 1857, died in infancy. 4. Martha W., born Sep- tember 21. 1860; married, March 10, 1880, Sharpless Nathan Cox, born Sep- tember 21, 1847 ; children : Elizabeth Taylor, born May 14, 1882; Isaac Gar- rett, August 16, 1884, married March 17, 1909, Amy W. Eastman, and had a son, Carroll, born December 19, 1911: Taylor Mitchell, born November 17, 1886; Lydia Hannah, born January 28, 1888; Wayne S., born March 16, 1890; Howard Newton, born July 24, 1892: Sharpless Nathan (2), born October 14, 1893 ; Ruth Woolens, born February 26, 1896; Alice Benjamin, born March 27, 1897; Mabel Adalaide, born February 19, 1899. 5. Levis Walter, born June 16, 1864; married, February 26, 1896, Lillian Croues.
(V) Pusey Phillips, second child and son of David Wilson and Elizabeth Jane (Pyle) Taylor, was born at Centreville, Delaware, October 23, 1855. Here his early years were spent, but upon arriving at mature age he pur- chased the property of William Twaddell, whose ancestors were of revolution- ary fame. The farm of two hundred and twelve acres, surrounded on nearly all sides by Brandywine creek, whose meanderings give it a natural boundary far more beautiful, serviceable and enduring than any of human making. In front of his home is the meeting place of Pennsylvania and Delaware, so that from the front porch one may look into Chester and New Castle counties. Up- on the estate are the ruins of an old powder mill used during the revolution. The Twaddell forbear who owned the property at the time, could not, in ad- herence to the pacific principles of his faith, that of a Friend, manufacture powder to be used in such a cause, but consummated a very effective compro- mise with his conscience, by which he turned over the mill and all its appli- ances to a neighbor of less severe belief. The dwelling in which Mr. Taylor lives is of stone, erected over one hundred and fifty years ago, of old colonial architecture. Mr. Taylor owns many fine cattle, and conducts an excellent dairy. He also specializes in the raising of wheat and potatoes. Both he and his wife are members of the Brandywine Baptist Church. Politically he is an Independent, and has never held office.
He married, December 23, 1891, Mary A. Turner, of Pleasant Hill, Dela- ware county, daughter of William, born in Manchester, England, April 16. 1837, and Mary C. (Walker) Turner. William Turner was a son of AAbram Turner, a cotton manufacturer, and Margaret (Ryder) Turner, of Manches- ter, England, who had two children: William (of previous mention), mar- ried Mary A. Walker; and Richard Thomas, unmarried, died June, 191I. Children of Pusey Phillips and Mary A. (Turner) Taylor: 1. Margaret Fla- ville, born at Mermaid, Delaware, November 5, 1892. 2. William F., born at Hockessin, Delaware, February 15, 1894. 3. Bayard L., born in Hockessin, Delaware, February 7, 1896. 4. Walter Chandler, born in Walnut Green, Delaware, May 23, 1898. 5. Frederick Ervin, born in Kennett Square, Penn- sylvania, February 28, 1900. 6. Philip Pusey, born in Chadd's Ford Junction, October 18, 1904. 7. Newell Converse, born in Chadds Ford, "Windtryst." October 23, 1908.
The family founded by Cornelius Corssen, a French Protestant
CORSON who fled from France on the same vessel that brought Henri de La Tourette, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, has numbered many eminent physicians. Perhaps the best known in our own day was Dr. Hiram Corson, now deceased, the foremost champion of his time for the right of women to practice the medical profession. Dr. Hiram Corson was a brother of Charles Corson, the grandfather of Dr. Susan R. Corson, of Lansdowne, all tracing their descent from Cornelius Corssen, who settled on
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Staten Island, New York, where his will was probated in 1693. The line of descent is through Benjamin, first, second and third ; the first Benjamin, son of Cornelius, the emigrant settling in Bucks county in 1726, bringing a son, Ben- jamin ( 2), who married in Buck's county, Maria Suydam : their son, Benja- min (3) married Sarah Dungan. Both the Corsons and the Dungans were wealthy, as wealth was estimated in those days and had agreed that each should give the young couple "as much as the other" towards their "setting out," but a dispute arose between the families, with the result that neither family gave anything, the newly-weds beginning life on a rented farm in Dublin town- ship, then in Philadelphia county.
Joseph Corsen, son of Benjamin (3) Corson, was born in Dublin town- ship, March 15. 1764, married. in 1786. Hannah Dickinson and had eleven children, including Dr. Hiram (of previous mention), and Charles, grand- father of Dr. Susan R. Corson.
Charles Corson, third son of Joseph Corson, was born January 22, 1801. He married Sarah Egbert and they for more than forty years lived on their large farm in Lower Providence township, Montgomery county, Pennsyl- vania. He was intensely opposed to slavery, his house being a station on the "underground railway" and many a slave was forwarded from there to more northern points and freedom. His sixth child was John Jacobs.
John Jacobs Corson was born January 5, 1839, died in Norristown, Penn- sylvania, in 1912. He was a successful business man, real estate dealer, law- yer and financier of that city for many years and a man of high character. He married. April 8, 1872, Rebecca Pawling Freedley, born in Norristown in 1847, daughter of Henry Freedley, and a great-granddaughter of Joseph Heis- ter, a former governor of Pennsylvania : children : Nellie, Pathologist in Dr. Ludlum's Sanitarium in Philadelphia: Dr. Susan R. (of further mention) : Alice, a noted artist, who for three consecutive seasons held a scholarship in the Academy of Fine Arts. Philadelphia : John J., a real estate dealer in Nor- ristown : Henry Freedley, also in the real estate business in Norristown ; Paula. married Kenneth Patton, now United States Consul at Rome, Italy ; Russel, a law student at the University of Pennsylvania ; Dorothy, yet a student.
Dr. Susan R. Corson, second child of John Jacobs and Rebecca Pawling (Freedley ) Corson, was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, August 26, 1876. After a course in public and preparatory school, she entered Swarthmore Col- lege, whence she was graduated B. S., class of 1897. The love of the medical profession was in her blood and encouraged by the achievement of so many Doctors Corson of the past. she entered the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia, from whence she was graduated M. D., class of 1901. After spending a year in the Woman's Hospital in Philadelphia, she located in Lans- downe in 1902 and began the private practice of her profession. She is, in addition to her large general practice, attending physician to Miss Brewster's school for backward children and to the Church Home for Children at Angora. Pennsylvania. A woman of culture, energy and ambition, Dr. Corson has worthily upheld the family name and justifies in her own career, the long and arduous fight made by her great uncle. Dr. Hiram Corson, for woman's recog- nition by the medical profession.
In 1912, Dr. Corson erected a home at Garrettford, Delaware county, but continues her office at No. 8 East Baltimore avenue, in Lansdowne.
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Prior to 1830, Ernest and Adyessha Hilton, born and married HILTON in Germany, came to Pennsylvania, settling in Lycoming coun- ty, where Ernest Hilton died prior to 1843, leaving his widow with four daughters and a son, George. The widow came to Philadelphia with her children in 1843, but when the cholera became epidemic in the city the family was broken up, the children being sent to different places to avoid the dread disease. Becoming thus separated in early life the children grew up as strangers, losing all trace of one another.
George, only son of Ernest and Adyessha Hilton, was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, in 1835. He was eight years of age when his mother came to Philadelphia with her children. When the family was broken up he was placed under the care of John Justice, a farmer, owning Sweet Brier farm, now a part of Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. He was an inmate of the Justice home about five years. He was then thirteen years of age, a strong and hearty boy, very desirable and useful help on a farm. From the age of thirteen to seventeen years he worked for Henry Cochsperger, a truckman and farmer. He had never received wages for his labors with these men, board and clothes being his only compensation. Pennies that fell in his way were carefully hoarded, and of these he had seven hundred carefully stored away on which to begin life. With this sum, and his nine years' experience at farm- ing, he left the Cochsperger home, finding employment with Mrs. Betsey Grov- er, who owned a farm of sixty acres. He took charge of this farm and caused it to yield so satisfactorily that he remained with Mrs. Grover until her death five years later. He then came to Delaware county, engaging with William Gardner, then owning the Bullock farm. He remained with Mr. Gardner five years, when he was stricken with typhoid fever. In 1859 he was placed in charge of a farm owned by a Mr. Damon. This farm, then in Darby township, is now included within the corporate limits of the borough of Darby. After seven years of successful management of the Damon farm he entered the em- ploy of William Jackson, a farmer, living on the Chester road. In 1869 he be- came manager of a farm owned by Henry Sloan, continuing until the death of Mr. Sloan in 1874. Mr. Hilton then rented the property, converting it into a truek farm and disposing of his products in the Philadelphia markets. He continued there, prospering abundantly, for eighteen years, when he retired from active labor, having spent forty-nine years, from 1843 until 1892, in ac- tive work as a farmer. In the latter year he erected his present comfortable home in Darby borough at Fifth and Greenway streets, where he has continu- ously resided since its completion. He is also the owner of seven other dwell- ings in the borough. The earnings of his years of toil have been judiciously invested, and his store of wealth has grown from the seven hundred pennies of his boyhood to an ample competence for his old age. His life has been well spent and he is rich in the esteem of his many friends and acquaintances. A Republican in politics, he has served eighteen years as member of the bor- ough council. Also has been a director for seventeen years of the King- sessing Building and Loan Association of Paschall.
Mr. Hilton married, May 3, 1858, Mary Ann Cain, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1838, daughter of John Cain, born in England, a car- penter, and his wife, Mary Ann Adams, who died in Darby in 1904, aged sixty- six years. Their children : Robert, Edward, John, Emma, deceased, and Mary. Children of George and Mary Ann (Cain) Hilton: 1. Martha B., born Janu- ary 27, 1859; married William J. Wright ; children: Harry E. and George H. 2. George W., born June 27, 1860: married Catherine Simons ; children : William J., George W. (2), Anna, Garrett and Grace. 3. John C., born April 48
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11. 1862, died July 7, 1903 : married Emma Kurtz : children : Mattie W. ; Mary .A., married Charles Stuart, of Philadelphia.
The Lukens were among the earliest settlers in Germantown, LUKENS now a part of the city of Philadelphia. Jan Lucken was the first of whom we have record. He was one of the thirteen heads of families who arrived in Philadelphia, October 8, 1683. as passengers on the "Concord." William Jeffries, master, after a voyage of almost eleven weeks. Some were from Germany and some from Holland, and it is not known with certainty from which of these two countries Jan Lucken came. His wife. Mary, doubtless newly married, accompanied him. They were Mennonites at the time of their arrival, but at a later date became identified with the Friends. His name became Anglicized to John, and in time Lucken passed into Lukens. John Lukens and Arnold Clinken were appointed overseers of the German- town Meeting, I mo. 25, 1706, and he was frequently a representative thence to the quarterly meeting. By occupation he was a weaver. His will is dated 8 mo. 9, 1741, and was proven January 24, 1744. His widow died in 1742 at the age of eighty-two years. Children: I. Elizabeth, born 7 mno. 28, 1684, married, 1717, Edward White. 2. Elsje ( Alice), born 5 mo. 10, 1686, mar- ried, 1706, John Conrad. 3. William, born 12 mo. 22, 1687-8. married about 10 mo. 1710, Elizabeth, daughter of Reynier Teison (Tyson). 4. Sarah, born 7 mo. 19, 1689. 5. John, born 9 mo. 27. 1691, married, 1711, Margaret Kus- ter. 6. Mary, born It mo. 18, 1693, married, 1712, John Gerrit (Jarrett). 7. Peter, born I mo. 30, 1696, married, 1719, Gainor Evans. 8. Hannah, born 5 mo. 25, 1698, married, 1716, Samuel Daniel, son of Francis Daniel Pastorius. 9. Mathias, born 8 mo. 13. 1700, married, 1721, Ann Johnson. 10. Abraham, born 7 mo. 16, 1703, married Mary Marle and Elizabeth Walker. 11. Joseph, born 9 mo. 3, 1705, married, 1728, Susanna Marle. The family traced in this review is directly descended from the pioneer ancestor, Jan Lucken, but it is somewhat difficult to ascertain accurately through which son this descent is traceable.
(1) William Lukens, who was probably born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, owned an excellent farm there in Horsham township, and died on his homestead. He was a devout member of the Society of Friends. He married and had a number of children, of whom those who grew to maturity were: Jacob; Jonathan, see forward ; Charles.
(II) Jonathan, son of William Lukens, was born on the farm of his fath- er in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. Ile was the owner of a small farm there on which he resided many years, but at the time of his death he was liv- ing with his daughter, Mary Ann Hutchinson. He married (first) Sarah Kin- derdine, and had: 1. William P., see forward. 2. Joseph, died in 1897 on a farm in Ridley township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania ; he married Mary Paul Worrall. 3. Mary Ann, deceased, married George Hutchinson, who died in Indianapolis, Indiana .. Mr. Lukens married ( second) -, and had children : 4. John, who was starved to death at the Andersonville Prison dur- ing the civil war. 5. Charles, died in Philadelphia. 6. Edwin, lives in Macun- gie, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania. 7. Elwood, died in infancy.
(111) William P., son of Jonathan and Sarah ( Kinderdine) Lukens, was born in Horsham township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and died July 3. 1900. Ile received a common school education and was brought up on the farm, and commenced to assist in its cultivation at the usual age at which farm- ers' sons commenced at that time. He removed to Ridley township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, about 1868, his wife owning some property there, and
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TI D N FOUNDATIONS.
Residence of J. Jarry Lukens Greystone
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spent the remainder of his life there. He was a member of the Society of Friends but his wife was not a member of any denomination. Active in the af- fairs of the Republican party, he was honored with public office, and served a considerable time as supervisor of the township. He was a man of great influ- ence and prominence in the community, and was known for his public spirit, and for his liberal response in all matters of charity. He married Mary Worrall Par- ry, born in Ridley township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, and died in Octo- ber, 1905. Children : 1. Edith P., died young. 2. J. Parry, see forward. 3. Eliz- abeth, married B. Frank Compton, and lives in Ridley township. 4. Sarah K .. married William W. Downing, and lives in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. 5. Wil- liam, see forward. (See Worrall line forward).
(IV) J. Parry, son of William P. and Mary Worrall Lukens, was born in Horsham township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, June S, 1854, and his early years were spent there. After attending the Friends' School for a time he became a pupil at the Chester Academy, from which he was graduated with honor. His first business position was as a clerk in a store at Leiperville, now Crum Lynne, in 1874. The following year in association with his uncle, Jo- seph K. Lukens, he purchased the interests of Mendenhall & Johnson, the firm name being changed to J. K. & J. P. Lukens, and this partnership was in force tintil November, 1877. In association with B. Frank Compton he purchased the large store of B. F. Pretty at Upland. Pennsylvania, having sold his inter- est in his previous business to J. K. Lukens. The new enterprise was operated under the firm name of Lukens & Compton, and was continued thus until 1890. when Mr. Lukens purchased the interest of his partner, conducted the business alone for two years and then sold it in the spring of 1892 to B. Frank Comp- ton. He removed to Wissahickon and was employed by .A. & P. Roberts in the Pencoyd Iron Works for one year, when he purchased a grocery, meat and provision establishment at Ardmore, but sold this again in 1896. He then be- came the agent for a western concern which manufactured sewer pipes and fire clay products, and later became the eastern agent of the American Sewer Pipe Company, which was in existence from 1900 to 1912. During this time he was gradually establishing himself in independent business along the line of these products and in 1912 resigned his position as agent. Since that time he has been in business on his own account. Mr. Lukens has also been consid- erably interested in real estate matters. In 1897 he purchased the Wood- Lynne Coal, Feed and Material Yard, which he conducted alone for a period of two years, then for three years as the senior partner in the firm of Lukens & Lewis. He sold this business in 1903 to his partner, Lewis C. Lewis. He still retains his interest in a large amount of property in Chester City in the borough of Upland and in Ridley township. He has lived in Ridley township since 1897, and since 1905, upon the death of his mother, he has resided on the old Worrall homestead, the residence on which was erected in 1768. At that time it was considered one of the finest and best homes in Delaware coun- ty. Mr. Lukens had this dwelling thoroughly repaired in 1913, but retained all the colonial features and relics, simply modernizing it by the introduction of gas, water. electric light, heating, etc, and it is now the most commodious and best equipped house of its kind in the county. It is situated on a large, rectangular plot of ground of twenty-seven acres, bounded on three sides by Fairview road. Bullen's Lane and Crum creek, and has one of the best springs in the county. In political matters Mr. Lukens gives his allegiance to the Re- publican party, and he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. He is a member of L. H. Scott Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Chester, Pennsylvania. Mr. Lukens married, October 2, 1889, Irene S. Compton, born
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in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, died February 7. 1909. They have had chil- dren : 1. Mary Worrall, born January 5. 1891, was graduated from Ridley Park High School. 2. William Penn, born September 20, 1894 ; was graduated from the Ridley Park High School, and then went to Swarthmore College, and was graduated from the department of engineering of that institution. He is now employed in the model room of the Chalmers' Auto Company, Detroit, Michigan. 3. Edith W .. born June 18, 1896; at Ardmore, Pennsylvania; she was graduated from the West Chester Normal School in June, 1912.
(IV) William, son of William P. and Mary Worrall Lukens, was born in Horsham. Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He was educated at the Gilbert Academy : he then engaged in general mercantile business, being in the employ of an older brother at Upland, Pennsylvania. In 1889 he became an employe of II. S. Burbank & Company, of No. 16 North 8th street, Philadel- phia. Pennsylvania, as a traveling salesman, his territory covering Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, New Jersey, West Virginia and Delaware. At the end of thir- teen years with this concern he formed a connection with George C. Batcheller & Company, covering the same territory, and has been associated with this firm up to the present time. For the past few years Mr. Lukens has been actively engaged in real estate matters, the main field of his operations being Ridley township and Chester, Pennsylvania. He is also the proprietor of the Russell House at Thomasville. Georgia. and spends the greater part of each winter there. His religious affiliations are with the Society of Friends. He is a member of the L. H. Scott Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Chester, Pennsylvania. The home of Mr. Enkens is a beautiful old stone house, built in 1794 by his maternal great-grandfather. William Worrall. It is surrounded by fifty acres of the old Worrall homestead. Mr. Lukens married. July 15, 1806, Lila H. Willie, born in Lloyd, Jefferson county, Florida, and they have had children : 1. James Willie, a student in the Ridley Park High School. 2. Elizabeth Parry, a student at the same institution.
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